An attempt at keeping my thighs from eating my shorts

The Giraffes Must Have Lost Their Magic

It’s a hard life I lead. I mean, I go on at least three bike rides a day. This has turned out to be a sneaky business because Bridget hasn’t been able to ride bikes due to the full arm cast she’s been sporting this summer. Therefore, I have to wait until she is at a friend’s house or distracted by a book to go out and ride. The good news is she always has her nose in a book so I’m pretty much free to ride whenever I want. In fact, I’m pretty sure the amount of time she spends reading is entirely unnatural.

We’ve also been busy checking out all of the fun festivities that have been going on around Denver. This weekend’s adventure was the chalk art festival, which took place near my old college stomping grounds…

Next week might just have to be this carnival that I saw advertised at the book store…

Now don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been all fun and games around here. In fact, I’ve been hard at work trying to find a teaching position this coming school year. I actually had an interview this past Tuesday for the school where my student teaching took place (which, I love). I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity and was super hopeful for a positive outcome.

I even wore my lucky giraffe shirt for the occasion…

But the giraffes must have lost their magic because I didn’t get the job.

I got beat out by a lady with 15 years experience so you can’t be too mad at that just coming right out of college. (Its okay, I still love my giraffes.) However, I was super bummed about the outcome. Apparently, I don’t take rejection very well because after I got the phone call I buried my sorrow in a bag of popcorn and a coke. The good news is the principal and the interview committee were still super impressed with me. (Their words not mine… well, they kind of are my words.) The principal gave me a few pointers for my next interview and offered to make some calls for me for any other schools that I may have applied for. I also got hired as a substitute teacher with the school district so worst case scenario I will be subbing part-time and staying home with Penelope on the days that Brent is at the fire station.

When I really think about it I can’t help but acknowledge that this might be the best of both worlds. Right when I reach my limit as a stay-at-home mom I’ll be given the opportunity to go to work and vice versa.

Anyway, on the same day that I got my rejection notice the whole family went with Bridget to her doctor’s visit to get her cast taken off.

We were all super excited… you know, because of that whole needing to ride our bikes to the pool to swim thing.

Unfortunately, we discovered that in addition to injuring her elbow she had also fractured her wrist. We didn’t know this at the time because the nerve in her elbow was going crazy causing pain throughout her entire arm down to her fingers. Bridget was devastated to discover that she wasn’t quite home free like she had hoped she would be. She ended up walking out with another cast. The good news is this one doesn’t go all the way up her arm and is waterproof/removable.

After the doctor’s appointment Bridget and I were tempted to scrap the whole day and call it bad… but we had a better idea. We went to the book store instead.

She still can’t ride bikes but she can participate in swim team which is good because she is signed up to do that three days a week for the summer.

So, for those three days we have a new morning routine that involves making sure everyone gets a little exercise. (Everyone, except for Penelope, because she’s strapped into the stroller.) Practice is super early in the morning so on these days we walk Bridget to the pool and while she practices I take Scout and Penelope for a run. Then we come back just in time to pick her up and walk home.

Then we water the garden and go on whatever adventure the day beckons us to do…

Which at this particular moment includes meal planning because as fun as all of this spontaneity is… I’m in need of a little organization in my life. I’ve been playing hard and I’m sure that burns a lot of calories but I need to do some planning in order to meet my goals. So stay tuned for another post of some yummy things I plan on preparing in the days to come.